tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10365282288959329282024-02-26T12:33:40.668-05:00Flying IslandFlying Island is the Online Literary Journal of the Indiana Writers Center, accepting submissions from Midwest residents and those with significant ties to the Midwest.David M. Hasslerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00902975745598197198noreply@blogger.comBlogger574125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-63077917636651101042024-02-23T08:05:00.000-05:002024-02-25T23:51:09.503-05:00Flying Island 2.23<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />Dear Flying Island Readers:</span></p><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Welcome to the 2.23 Edition of the Flying Island Journal! In this edition we publish poems by <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2024/02/after-new-years-eve-poem-by-charlotte.html">Charlotte Melin</a>, <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2024/02/breakdown-poem-by-jared-carter.html">Jared Carter</a>, <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2024/02/poem-for-jeff-rudy-poem-by-john-dorsey.html">John Dorsey</a>, and <a href="http://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2024/02/poor-counsel-poem-by-karly-vance.html">Karly Vance</a>.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Inspired to send us your fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction? For more info on how to submit, see the tab above.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thank you for reading,</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Flying Island Editors and Readers</span></div><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-26210032285271431082024-02-23T08:04:00.001-05:002024-02-25T23:51:39.062-05:00After New Year’s Eve, a poem by Charlotte Melin<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-3002e6c7-7fff-18dd-04d4-3789f32fc70d" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">After New Year’s Eve</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Already gone the luminaries</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">of New Year’s Eve that lighted</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">the curving paths in the park,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">the forks to enter or exit.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">A chill has settled in,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">and silence. A neighbor</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">lifts the undecorated tree</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">into his truck, a few kids</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">straggle over the green.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Here and there a puff</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">of steam exhales from </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">a heat vent. At one house</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">the smell of laundry drifts</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">over the sidewalk,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">reaching out as if we were </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">all tidying up together.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">No one is welcoming</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">the months to come,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">the inevitable discord.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Yet last night in the dark,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">the luminaries were so</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">peaceful as they faintly</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">flickered promises.<br /><br /></span></p><p></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-fbb2d29a-7fff-ba57-cff9-267ebb45d0dd" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Charlotte Melin</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> grew up in Indiana and returns to visit. Retired from the University of Minnesota, she lives in Northfield and has published widely about German poetry, the environmental humanities, and teaching.</span></span></p><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-50908851236995547872024-02-23T08:03:00.001-05:002024-02-25T23:52:07.487-05:00Breakdown, a poem by Jared Carter <p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-a92489c3-7fff-14a0-c2dd-b78e86721f64" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Rosarivo,serif; font-size: 16pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Breakdown</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">And now, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">denouement</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">, what you will.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> Nothing will last,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">And everything’s a kind of thrill –</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> a sudden blast</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Of sound, heralding the king, who</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> moments before,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Reprieved hyenas in the zoo,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> advised the whore</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">And lobbyist to squeeze together,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> wrote off their debts,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Proclaimed an end to sultry weather,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> welched on all bets.</span></p><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Jared Carter</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> lives in Indianapolis</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> </span><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-fc983677-7fff-d994-6d72-372a22f9a7b0" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-fc983677-7fff-d994-6d72-372a22f9a7b0" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-fc983677-7fff-d994-6d72-372a22f9a7b0" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-39068961962119345462024-02-23T08:02:00.001-05:002024-02-25T23:52:42.155-05:00Poem for Jeff Rudy, a poem by John Dorsey<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-a29897e0-7fff-f39f-e406-110dea663ada" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Poem for Jeff Rudy</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">i don’t know where you are now</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">maybe your ponytail has gone gray </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">maybe your thick glasses </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">are smudged with the dust from old books</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">& you can no longer see your way </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">out of the worry that comes with age</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">maybe you no longer swim </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">in rivers</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">flooded with thoughtfulness</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">as far away as pittsburgh </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">or johnstown </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">where you once sang </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">about the mythology of weathered hands</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">where i once dreamt of you painting your nails</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">in a torn t-shirt reading while jim daniels</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">it must have been a dream</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">your shirts were always freshly pressed</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">& you only read larry levis & ed ochester</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">like it was a religion</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">& when you extended your hand</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">i took it </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">& it’s been over 30 years</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">with you now somewhere lost in time</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">& i’m still waiting for you </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">to let go.<br /><br /><br /></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">John Dorsey</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the former poet laureate of Belle, Missouri and the author of </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pocatello Wildflower</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. He may be reached at </span><a href="mailto:archerevans@yahoo.com" style="background-color: #eeeeee; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">archerevans@yahoo.com</span></a><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></p><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-91158336997937566842024-02-23T08:01:00.001-05:002024-02-25T23:53:40.120-05:00Poor Counsel, a poem by Karly Vance<p><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-7bbee303-7fff-7634-356c-3dd17326500b" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Poor Counsel</span></p><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I cannot tell you</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If ice, when it’s thin and blooming </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is like a window pane;</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If, when you are very still,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can see walleye and pike</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Darting in the dull deep.</span></p><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I cannot ask you</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If ice, when it is thick,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Can hold in any sound.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mouth to ear, mouth to mouth I hear</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is remarkable how jealous </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Even small lakes can be,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How whole the seal.</span></p><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I cannot warn you</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How to know when the lake</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Will become a tired old woman</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sweeping piles of</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ice or rock or bone</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Onto the shoulder of the shore </span></p><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I cannot teach you </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How to find the right place</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To cut a hole in the ice.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How even to begin? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What blade can control the cut?</span></p><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I hear that ice tears like skin</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Mercurial)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And heals like a warm shore</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: -0.1pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.1pt; text-indent: -0.1pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Scarless).</span></p><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-cca259a2-7fff-db47-f273-3104d4812012" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Karly Vance</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> grew up in Bay City, Michigan and studied writing at Hope College. Her writing has been published in journals including </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Common Ground Review, Dunes Review, Midwest Quarterly</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Madison Review</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. She lives with her husband and son in the Chicago area.</span></span></p><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-48617652731744212842024-01-26T08:04:00.002-05:002024-01-26T08:04:00.136-05:00Flying Island 1.26<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />Dear Flying Island Readers:</span></p><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Welcome to the 1.26 Edition of the Flying Island Journal! In this edition we publish poems by <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2024/01/passion-flowers-and-puzzle-boxes-poem.html">Jason Ryberg</a>, <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2024/01/nighthawks-poem-by-tory-pearman.html">Tony Pearman</a>, <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2024/01/a-freckle-poem-by-david-priest.html">David Priest</a>, and <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2024/01/in-january-poem-by-laurel-smith.html">Laurel Smith</a>.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Inspired to send us your fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction? For more info on how to submit, see the tab above.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thank you for reading,</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Flying Island Editors and Readers</span></div>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-44351388768078557412024-01-26T08:03:00.001-05:002024-01-26T08:03:00.223-05:00Passion Flowers and Puzzle Boxes, a poem by Jason Ryberg<br /><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-77d5ab32-7fff-18c6-0e79-3e63f649ddc4" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 13.999999999999998pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Passion Flowers and Puzzle Boxes</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Scientists and poets alike have yet to find </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">whether certain experimental hybridizations </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">of radio waves and silver go-go boots in any way</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">affect the erratic trajectories of UFOs;</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Though, they now know that the geometry of fireflies </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">may have some influence over the delicate symbiosis </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">of communication satellites, train yards </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">and Blue Turtle migrations.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">However, despite recent controversial reports</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">there has been no independent confirmation</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">on whether the random arrangement</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">of orange blossoms on a city sidewalk, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">slick with rain, has any more relation </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">to the performance of a North Korean </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">featherweight in the 9th than </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">a performance of Beethoven’s 9th</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">by the South Korean Philharmonic does</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">to the discovery of designs </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">for a steam-driven engine </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">written on papyrus.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">But, one doesn’t need a steady diet</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">of coral calcium deposits or subterranean</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">cold-storage of arcane information</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">to see that a cracked engine block</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">is bound, cosmically, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">to a crack-baby found</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">behind a dumpster in an alley</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">(alive and doing well we’re told),</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">that beauty-parlor patter is richly infused</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">with important information regarding escape artistry,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">living in the desert, the number “0” AND, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">stealing household appliances </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">(specifically, toaster-ovens, it seems)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">and, most importantly, </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">that a strangely warm winter-breeze</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">witnessed stirring a light bulb</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">hanging on the end of a string</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">will eventually result in a brilliant idea</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">unfolding like a passionflower or </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Chinese puzzle box of infinite digression </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.44; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">somewhere down the integer line </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">of an, as yet, undetermined causal chain.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jason Ryberg</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the author of eighteen books of poetry, six screenplays, a few short stories, a box full of folders, notebooks and scraps of paper that could one day be (loosely) construed as a novel, and, a couple of angry letters to various magazine and newspaper editors. He is currently an artist-in-residence at both The Prospero Institute of Disquieted P/o/e/t/i/c/s and the Osage Arts Community, and is an editor and designer at Spartan Books. His latest collection of poems is </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fence Post Blues</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (River Dog Press, 2023). He lives part-time in Kansas City, MO with a rooster named Little Red and a Billy-goat named Giuseppe and part-time somewhere in the Ozarks, near the Gasconade River, where there are also many strange and wonderful woodland critters.</span></span></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-33391170949649744512024-01-26T08:02:00.001-05:002024-01-26T08:02:00.132-05:00Nighthawks, a poem by Tory Pearman<br /><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-72ef640d-7fff-6782-c229-46e0471fabd2" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Nighthawks</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">House on a hill, Edward Hopper sky:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">the nighthawks circle the roof ridge,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">cryptic plumes mottled gray and black</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">like ash bark. A white flash blazes</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">as their wings rise and dip </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">in the dim half-light between night</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">and morning. Everything in this house</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">grieves. Ghostly shadows peer out</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">windows as if trying to leave</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">the mourning that hovers in the air </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">thick as gravestone moss. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Outside, the hawks, now erratic,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">look like bats as their sharp, electric</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">peent buzzes, halted only by a boom</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">when one and then another and then another</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">circles high above the eaves and then dives </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">steeply, hurtling toward the earth,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">a sullen plunge saved only by a graceful, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">long-winged looping that pitches</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">back up to the heavens. The unrelenting</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">hum of buzz, boom, swish cloaks</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">the rooftop like a shroud,</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">pounds against the rafters and lintels,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">then stops suddenly. The front-porch door</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">swings into the silence, and we watch them</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">carry your shrouded body to the open</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">wings of the hearse. The hawks roost</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">motionless along the maple branch, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">now almost invisible in their perch,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">and watch, too, as the car descends</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">the gravel drive, drifting into daybreak</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">until vanished. With a swoosh, the birds</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">take flight, head toward the river,</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">where they will swoop low, skim</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">a drink from the surface, wetting</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">their feathers in a baptismal spray </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">that settles into their rictal bristles</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">and evaporates</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">as the flock disperses.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Nightjar, goatsucker, chuck-will’s-widow,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">each bird now a lone shadow in the sky.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Like us, they have no nest to fly home to, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">only a shallow depression in the dirt,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">shaded by stone.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />Tory Pearman</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> resides with her family in Cincinnati, OH, where she teaches literature and writing. Her work appears or is forthcoming in journals like </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moss Puppy</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cheat River Review</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Salamander, Atticus Review, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">San Pedro River Review</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee.</span></span></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-36311283837210346232024-01-26T08:01:00.001-05:002024-01-26T08:01:00.183-05:00a freckle, a poem by David Priest<p><br /></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-4a424d9e-7fff-2fa0-6c93-34126d4bee21" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">a freckle</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">before I knew to love you,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">I typed an overwrought thought</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">about those little brown spots swirling or</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">perhaps, though it pains me to admit, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">constellating</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">on your nose, your cheeks, your very soul or</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">a similar plea for meaning. because they couldn’t</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">just be little bits of brown skin. they had</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">to be stars, or flecks of swallowed sunlight,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">or perhaps birds, yes, birds,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">flocking across a cloudless face.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">as usual, I had it backwards. stars freckle</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">the night, birds freckle the trees, whose</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">leaves freckle the houses on our street.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">it’s only taken me nine years to realize</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">your freckles are freckles. my favorite</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">is one on your lip, which</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">I first noticed while you slept. it’s barely</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">a freckle at all, this freckle, so faint.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">an island in the ocean completely</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">covered at high tide is the freckle</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">on your lip. you could miss it altogether</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">if you were looking for stars.</span></p><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />David Priest</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The American Literary Review</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Salon, Cleaver Magazine, Outside Magazine, Fare Forward</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and many other publications. He lives with his wife and two sons in Kentucky.</span></span></p><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-51541469345843751822024-01-26T08:00:00.001-05:002024-01-26T08:00:00.319-05:00In January, a poem by Laurel Smith<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-ba802c12-7fff-943f-c959-1997cf29e091" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">In January </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">even the river</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">dreams of going to the moon</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">after the ice breaks,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">a chilly ink of spring thaw </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">plotting some way to launch </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">its rocky bottom </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">into weightless night. The current</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">tells of children who</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">make wishes, who fly on carpets,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">who embrace a snowy day</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">while the old year folds</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">itself into a tiny </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">fist, grasping light from</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">winter’s narrow lot to make</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">stars that dance on water.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />Laurel Smith</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> lives in Vincennes, Indiana, and happily volunteers to promote community gardening, social awareness, and creativity. Her poems have appeared in various journals, including </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Natural Bridge</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New Millennium Writings</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">English Journal</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tipton Poetry Journal</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Flying Island</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">; also in the following anthologies: </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And Know This Place; Mapping the Muse; Visiting Frost</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></p><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-32194416714059221732023-12-29T08:05:00.002-05:002023-12-29T21:44:03.224-05:00Flying Island 12.29<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Dear Flying Island Readers:</span></p><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Welcome to the 12.29 Edition of the Flying Island Journal! In this edition we publish poems by </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2023/12/an-octopus-changes-colors-as-she-sleeps.html"><span id="docs-internal-guid-76294adc-7fff-4686-558f-128680289bd7" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jenny Kalahar</span></a><span style="font-family: georgia;">, </span><span id="docs-internal-guid-212d897b-7fff-cb0b-d7ad-f5a8ee03638a" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2023/12/mae-hong-son-city-of-three-mists-poem.html">James Green</a></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">, </span><a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2023/12/bree-poem-by-tony-brewer.html"><span id="docs-internal-guid-51ecda68-7fff-fce7-aafc-164fc8ade3f0" style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Tony Brewer</span></a><span style="font-family: georgia;">, and </span><span id="docs-internal-guid-77e5ac00-7fff-4ca8-7ed5-09e2c5f7b128" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2023/12/after-creationthe-scientist-prays-poem.html">Andy McCall</a></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">.<br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Inspired to send us your fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction? For more info on how to submit, see the tab above.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Thank you for reading,</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Flying Island Editors and Readers</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><p><br /></p><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-59240552362309430772023-12-29T08:04:00.002-05:002023-12-29T21:44:21.988-05:00An Octopus Changes Colors as She Sleeps, a poem by Jenny Kalahar<p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-0ef82161-7fff-0e9e-af4b-afdc18e88fdd" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><br />An Octopus Changes Colors as She Sleeps</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is news, but feels familiar.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I dream in colors, and now I’m sure</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I, too, change colors as I dream.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I may be grass-green while sitting warm on a neighbor’s hillside</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I would roll down before heading home</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to a table full of loud brothers who made up their own, separate clan,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">glad and not glad to break my solitude for the day.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Green, as naiveté still clung to the world.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Or brick red while dreaming of the last place I stood,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hidden in the holly bushes,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">before the bell clanged overhead</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">on that day I didn’t go into school,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">afraid of a teacher</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">who proclaimed she loved me and wished I loved her, too.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brick red as my tiny fingers tried to dig</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">into the wall against my back.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do I luminate into glassy, grey-green lake water</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">during images of nearly drowning as a girl</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">while my sturdy father,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not actually watching me,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">stares cross-armed at nothingness on the farthest shore</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that took a few more decades to fully swallow him down?</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An octopus changes colors as she sleeps.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So her camouflage is subconscious, then.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Objects the mollusk placidly floats over transform her exterior</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">without a deliberate act to adapt,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">without exerting an effort to hide in them, on them.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Nature did not offer this ability to humans,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but some of us have learned it all the same.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></p><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jenny Kalahar</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a novelist, poet, used & rare bookseller in central Indiana. She is the Premier Poet of the Poetry Society of Indiana (2022-2025), and is the editor and publisher of </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last Stanza Poetry Journal</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-48070485634008028402023-12-29T08:03:00.000-05:002023-12-29T21:44:53.835-05:00Mae Hong Son: City of Three Mists, a poem by James Green<p><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-7c3db278-7fff-2809-0243-527f3cbe3ac7" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mae Hong Son: City of Three Mists</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 10pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Consider the sun rising over</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mountain peaks piercing mist</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">floating over a pearl-grey morning,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">how light expands, uncontained,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">though filtered, how the still air</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">finds a way to stir petals</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of a leelawaddee flower, like</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fingers through a lover’s hair.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">⁓</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Along a run of chicken wire</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">roves a prodigal crop of morning glory</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">stretching to face the sun</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">leaking through the mist.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lightheaded, I hold my breath,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hoping to never exhale</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the cerulean sweetness</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I hold inside.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">⁓</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Buds of lotus, like tiny stupas,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rise from a pond and disappear</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">into morning’s low-slung mist.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Deep inside the opaqueness</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">smoky silhouettes begin to form,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">then fade, then rematerialize.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Overhead doors rattle as shops</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">open for business.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">James Green</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a retired university professor and administrator. He divides his time between his home in Muncie, Indiana, and Mae Hong Son, Thailand, where he serves as a volunteer with the Jesuit Refugee Service. You may learn about his poetry at his website, </span><a href="http://www.jamesgreenpoetry.net/" style="background-color: #eeeeee; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">www.jamesgreenpoetry.net</span></a><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></p><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-85658113198711370802023-12-29T08:02:00.000-05:002023-12-29T21:45:09.452-05:00Bree, a poem by Tony Brewer<p><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-dec52c7a-7fff-3465-1aa2-7a2d49cf9169" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bree</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She openly admits she is codependent</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">standing on my porch in the dark</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">after Ray ran off with her clothes</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A frantic knock at my screen</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a plea for my wi-fi</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">her phone dying</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She had 2-3 years left</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as long as she stayed clean</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">& she did through Christ</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">teaching her kids it's worse</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">if you don't believe & it's real</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">than if you believe</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">& it is</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eaten up by bugs</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that don't bother me</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">she needs a ride</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ray says he’s lost</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Her thumbs batter the screen</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What started as compassion</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">turns to OK get off my porch</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">her bundle of nerves</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">wadded up spare underwear</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in a big bag full</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of wrong chargers</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But I don't crack</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When she is calm she's thinking</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of all she gave up to stay</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">for what felt like love</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">& it is</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two spirits fighting</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to stay & to leave</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rattling off the story</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">like a grocery list</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ray is waiting at the Exxon</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">nods when I pull up</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She is jabbering furious</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">about what his fucking problem is</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 10pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as her door opens</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dude looks tired worn out beat</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">by responsibility I claimed</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">for an hour of texting on my porch</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I gladly turn over to him</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">& pull away</span></p><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tony Brewer</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a poet and audio artist from Bloomington, Indiana. He co-produces the Writers Guild Spoken Word Series and the Urban Deer Performance Series. His books include </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hot Type Cold Read</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pity for Sale</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fragile Batteries.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Tony has been offering Poetry On Demand at coffeehouses, museums, cemeteries, churches, bars, and art and music festivals for over a decade, and he is a frequent collaborator with experimental music & field recording ensemble ORTET. More at </span><a href="http://linktr.ee/Tony" style="background-color: #eeeeee; text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">linktr.ee/Tony</span></a><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Brewer</span></p><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-2784663547427405802023-12-29T08:01:00.000-05:002023-12-29T21:45:29.459-05:00After creation,/the scientist prays, a poem by Andy McCall<p><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-eb6f8a6b-7fff-3cc9-ecd0-a43c317031eb" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After creation,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the scientist prays</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I remember—</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">oxygen became so rare</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that our fish collapsed</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">into islands</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of themselves, sinking beneath</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the surface and leaving</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">us alone, starving.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Little finned god,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the company paid me</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to braid you</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">from two lineages</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">still found</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in the shallows</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of southern streams,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">strains tolerant enough</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to thrive and multiply</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in our warm, stinking waters.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bless me, who slid sperm</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">from one species into the egg</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of another, who massaged</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">your hollow ball of tissue</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">into tail, jaw, teeth and scales.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Forgive me,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I interrupted</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">your cell cycle,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">secretly rewrote</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">your gene sequence</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">so you would grow</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to unnatural size.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Remember me, now, as</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">your fry crowd</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the canals and channels,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">swallowing everything</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to make new flesh.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have mercy,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">when you have nothing</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">left to eat and lift your fins</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">onto land.<br /><br /><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Andy McCall</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was raised in Missouri and now teaches at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. He studies plants and insects and sometimes teaches more boring subjects like statistics. He enjoys writing about how humans and nature constantly interact to create new things. He's published in </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2River View</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blood Lotus</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Canary</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and other places.</span></p><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-22752843103303372312023-11-24T23:42:00.001-05:002023-11-24T23:53:08.282-05:00Flying Island 11.24<p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Dear Flying Island Readers:</span></p><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Welcome to the 11.24 Edition of the Flying Island Journal! In this edition we publish poems by <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2023/11/after-week-in-chartres-poem-by-rebecca.html">Rebecca Pyle</a>, <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2023/11/there-is-sunlight-there-is-wind-poem-by.html">Samuel Franklin</a>, <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2023/11/erratics-poem-by-eric-chiles.html">Eric Chiles</a>, and <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2023/11/saturday-morning-catechisms-poem-by.html">Marla J. Jarmer</a>.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Inspired to send us your fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction? For more info on how to submit, see the tab above.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thank you for reading,</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Flying Island Editors and Readers</span></div><br /><br /><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-13756813803891057742023-11-24T23:41:00.001-05:002023-11-24T23:52:54.152-05:00After a Week in Chartres, a poem by Rebecca Pyle<p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">After a Week in Chartres</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Become absorbed into ideas about how a house is really a boat</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Which is stopped</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">And a car is a boat</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Which is limited and heartbroken,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Separated from sea</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">And you will begin to want the house and the boat</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Which both break rules of how a house or a boat should be.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Can you not be childish and be a grownup? Yes, you can.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">You can eat pan and pain and butter and fromage and apricot jams.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">You can walk till your legs are both muscled and weary. Your smile</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">May be dependent upon knowing many things unbuyable are </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Missing</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">And will probably never be found again. They are like land</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">You cannot reach because the sea is too big and pretty and hungry</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">And too in love with its reflective capabilities, its dance eternal</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">With the sun.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">What has the sun always been to you? The middle fiddle of the blender,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The machine which whirls us all into submission, acquiescence, glitter, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Says our physical wounds will heal and our brains will rise above, our </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Novels about loneliness are nothing compared to the loneliness of planets</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Who are soothed only by gravitational pulls, felt like tugs of the sea, in </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The sky, the gorgeous sky like a shell full of mother-of-pearl cascading</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Into a show of colors, glitters, lives. The math! The math breaks itself</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Down into the lining of blankets, their silken bindings.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><div style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-5d5c7ad8-7fff-1710-0041-36d3f72fbdf1" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rebecca Pyle</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">'s writing has been nominated for the Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize; her fiction and poetry have appeared in </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Penn Review</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Otis Nebula</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Los Angeles Review</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hong Kong Review</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chattahoochee Review</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Santa Fe Writers Project Quarterly</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eclectica,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pangyrus</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Living and working this year in France, Rebecca is also an artist, her artwork most recently a part of </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">West Trestle Review, MAYDAY, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Banyan Review. </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">See rebeccapyleartist.com.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-19659078479322103582023-11-24T23:40:00.002-05:002023-11-24T23:52:40.577-05:00There is Sunlight, There is Wind, a poem by Samuel Franklin<p><br /></p><h2 dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-4f750e88-7fff-0f39-2849-84d34a80d89a" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">There is Sunlight, There is Wind</span></h2><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">We begin as vegetables, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">climbing up from seeds </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">like pumpkin vines atop </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">the wooden garden trellis.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">All winter we’ve waited, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">tubers in the frozen earth, </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">dreaming of leeks and apples, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">the breeze in the flowering pear. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">II</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">There is an acorn within me, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">skipping madly between my ribs.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">O once I was wild grass, ecstatic in sunlight, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">the music of oak leaves like lute notes</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">toward which I stretched and bristled.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">There is an acorn within me, </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">reaching tannic feelers through the tips </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">of my fingers. The roots are nuzzling down, </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">down, through the soles of my feet, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">speaking in the earth, listening to moles. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">III</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The dusk-sun warps among the buds </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">of the grasping oak, the long fingers </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">touching the belly of the sky, shivering. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Our hands splay against the radiance, </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">becoming blades of yuccas. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Winds wing like doves in our hair, </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">O there is sunlight in the wind,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">rain is kissing the bursting trees. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><div style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-9be31bd1-7fff-48fa-556d-c29febadfca1" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Samuel Franklin</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the author of two books of poetry: </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bright Soil, Dark Sun</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (2019) and </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The God of Happiness</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (2016). He resides in Bloomington, Indiana, where he enjoys making useful things out of wood scraps and losing staring contests to his cats. He can be found at </span><a href="http://samueltfranklin.com/" style="background-color: #eeeeee;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">samueltfranklin.com</span></a><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-18853416851629198392023-11-24T23:39:00.001-05:002023-11-24T23:52:18.431-05:00Erratics, a poem by Eric Chiles<p><br /></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-60c26281-7fff-ffcd-1cdc-7c0aca4c31a3" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Erratics</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Polychrome Outlook, Denali National Park and Preserve</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The bus driver points out the cottage-sized boulder stranded</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">miles off and thousands of feet below in the alluvial plane</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">between the winding rivers melting from two glaciers.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Sometimes glaciers break off huge chunks from mountains,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">he says, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">and when they recede, they drop them in the middle</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">of nowhere. All alone out there, they're called erratics.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">He needed this trip to breathe air into the doldrums</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">of his divorce. All this wild openness. All this emptiness</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> —the occasional ptarmigan, moose, grizzly or caribou.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">A red fox trots next to the bus, a snowshoe hare dangling</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">from its mouth. The bus driver stops so they can watch</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">the bitch carry dinner to kits bouncing around the den.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">It just reminds him of what he wanted, of the glacial</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">chill that had descended upon their marriage, deserting</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">him in a tundra of oneness. What, he wonders,</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">had precipitated her hiss that she had had enough,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">that she was leaving? And days later the mountain </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">of legal documents dropped at his door like an erratic.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><div style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-7a98e9e7-7fff-907d-2df1-a4f69b055b1a" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eric Chiles</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a graduate of I.U.'s graduate writing program and a former newspaper editor, is an adjunct professor of writing and journalism. He is the author of the chapbook </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Caught in Between</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (Desert Willow Press), and his poetry has appeared in such journals as </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The American Journal of Poetry</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blue Collar Review</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Canary,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Main Street Rag,</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Plainsongs, Rattle, Sport Literate, San Pedro River Review, Tar River Poetry</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Third Wednesday</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-48786236509999133122023-11-24T23:38:00.000-05:002023-11-24T23:54:40.058-05:00Saturday Morning Catechisms, a poem by Marla J. Jarmer<p><br /></p><p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Saturday Morning Catechisms</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Sometimes it was cattle,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">And sometimes it was horses, but</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">It was always a row of</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Old men in their pearl-button western</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Shirts and Levi’s,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Smoking cigars and pipe tobacco,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Making it impossible for me to breathe,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Braids sweaty and itching under </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">My Dekalb seed corn cap, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">A Peanuts Magic Slate from the Hi-Lo Grocery</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">And a flat Pepsi watered down by</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Ice long-melted to occupy me.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Sometimes it was the errant ash</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Of your Camel alighting on the</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Back of my hand,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The scent of corn still green in the shocks </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Flowing in through</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The vents as we flew down</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">A back country road, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Johnny Cash in the speakers, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">You at the wheel, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Me, shoes off, feet barely reaching the dash,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Head hanging dog-like out the window,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Hair tangling back behind me,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Wondering what it would feel like </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">To press the Camel’s cherry tip into my flesh.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Other times, it was in the cold mists of March,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Tramping down aisles of still-dead grass</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Of a farm two counties over,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Peering into the isles of someone’s life,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Tossed into boxes on groaning tables</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Fashioned from plywood and sawhorses.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Looking for the American dream</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Among projects half-done,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Regretful purchases, and items last new in 1957.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Standing flamingo-like,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Waiting on you to settle up,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">A ten-cent cup of cocoa warming my hands,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The pain of frigid earth </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Shooting up my legs</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Because in my hurry dressing,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I forgot to put on socks before</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Sliding bare feet into thin rubber boots.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><div style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-8b3090ac-7fff-533c-79e2-950febf84e64" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Marla J. Jarmer</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a professor of rhetoric and composition, the writing center director, and the editor of written works for </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Waiting for Rain</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> at Danville Area Community College in Danville, Illinois, where she has been awarded both the A. L. Webster Endowed Chair (2016) and the Dorothy Duley Endowed Chair (2014 and 2017). She currently serves as the assistant editor as Liaison for Two-Year College Caucus at AWP, is the co-editor and a contributing author of </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bully Pulpit</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Presidential Speeches, and The Shaping of Public Policy</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (Roman and Littlefield 2015), and has published works of poetry, short fiction, and creative non-fiction, most recently in </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Cider Press Review</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (February 2023). She is currently working on a multi-genre text about life with chronic illness (hemiplegic migraine and fibromyalgia).</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div><p></p><p><br /></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-56314731129864302512023-10-27T00:06:00.000-04:002023-10-27T00:06:00.130-04:00Flying Island 10.27<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFFN3sAEbN0P1sc6E1bDoZZMnjFgZfQgZ3GAyXK4_jLaHlDalLqei75DkOe0LhACBT7SJrBV_KLwJZi-UrIy-CPYWQ3qEDsRKl8zkhuEO5tvelO8CQGvHM5VY7NZaadiM1xfnxz6zcuh0zZ0uZ5aur4Mk8H8I8rst9GRnlvd3YcrxT9nOPrIwfQZ4GOKg/s1080/Flying%20Island%2010.27(1).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFFN3sAEbN0P1sc6E1bDoZZMnjFgZfQgZ3GAyXK4_jLaHlDalLqei75DkOe0LhACBT7SJrBV_KLwJZi-UrIy-CPYWQ3qEDsRKl8zkhuEO5tvelO8CQGvHM5VY7NZaadiM1xfnxz6zcuh0zZ0uZ5aur4Mk8H8I8rst9GRnlvd3YcrxT9nOPrIwfQZ4GOKg/w408-h408/Flying%20Island%2010.27(1).png" width="408" /></a></div><p><br /></p><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Dear Flying Island Readers:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Welcome to the 10.27 Edition of the Flying Island Journal! In this edition we publish poems by <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2023/10/plaid-blanket-poem-by-tawn-parent.html">Tawn Parent</a>, <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2023/10/drought-poem-by-roger-pfingston.html">Roger Pfingston</a>, <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2023/10/house-poem-by-chris-dean.html">Chris Dean</a>, and <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2023/10/american-haiku-poetry-by-mary-wilder.html">Mary Wilder Daily</a> and creative nonfiction by <a href="https://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2023/10/pawn-creative-nonfiction-by-nan-jackson.html">Nan Jackson</a>.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Inspired to send us your fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction? For more info on how to submit, see the tab above.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Thank you for reading,</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Flying Island Editors and Readers</span></div><div><br /><br /></div><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-16154062093766287652023-10-27T00:05:00.001-04:002023-10-27T00:05:00.124-04:00Plaid Blanket, a poem by Tawn Parent<p><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_F5pxLdvg859i5n4Ym_Wau8gZNyfGAAxpdbTl6wglMDcacswQvg0Xs4cRvt5JiJdqcRqKxOOLksWw0vwuolOBdnSgmLL-yg6OfM5sUKe3rV-k3PxfvB2oOZKjx-vXGF2TsBIza84i4fQgnKrrVFPnrrtwNs-MjEJIQrPBux7ATq2ykOci8lCDBjm3jzM/s1080/Flying%20Island%2010.27(2).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_F5pxLdvg859i5n4Ym_Wau8gZNyfGAAxpdbTl6wglMDcacswQvg0Xs4cRvt5JiJdqcRqKxOOLksWw0vwuolOBdnSgmLL-yg6OfM5sUKe3rV-k3PxfvB2oOZKjx-vXGF2TsBIza84i4fQgnKrrVFPnrrtwNs-MjEJIQrPBux7ATq2ykOci8lCDBjm3jzM/w397-h397/Flying%20Island%2010.27(2).png" width="397" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-b0367d55-7fff-0571-bc74-e21439ab4d48" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The Plaid Blanket</span></p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I cover my son with the fuzzy plaid blanket </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I bought spontaneously on Christmas Eve, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">spying it out of the edge of my eye</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">at the grocery checkout, of all places.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Something bright </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">to break up the chilly whiteness of the hospital bed</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">and offer a scrap of hominess</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">in the stern, ringing room.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The fleece provides warmth </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">that the thin, sterile hospital blankets can’t match,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">no matter how many you pile on.</span></p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">At home the plaid blanket</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">lives in a shopping bag,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">packed and ready</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">for when fever sends us running to the ER.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Then I lift the folded softness from the brown bag </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">and stretch it across the foot of Eli’s bed </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">in the children’s cancer ward</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">to claim this rolling metal island as our own.</span></p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">When the blanket becomes soiled,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I hurry to the hospital laundry,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">scrawl his room number in marker</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">on the hard lid of the washer.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Inside, the blanket </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">has a heyday,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">sharing its colorful fluff</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">with all its neighbors</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">as they churn together in the sudsy water.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Pants, shirts, and socks emerge </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">covered in red, green, and white fuzz,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">small bits of comfort</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">clinging to Eli’s clothes</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">like homespun snow.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><div style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></div><div style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-size: small;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-db6c36b7-7fff-67ea-ebe4-8bf848b7122f" style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tawn Parent</span><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a native and resident of Indianapolis. Her poetry and essays have appeared in </span><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tipton Poetry Journal</span><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Home Planet News Online, Anti-Heroin Chic, Last Stanza Poetry Journal, and Nzuri.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Wrong Place, </span><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a collection of poetry and essays about her young son’s cancer journey, will be published next year. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-43408705018349793282023-10-27T00:04:00.001-04:002023-10-27T00:04:00.131-04:00Drought, a poem by Roger Pfingston<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg49KQXo1L39mKXkntCt5EHNAwqseL01yc6JsQ6Cbvd5ykQtSuT0_KJq8U7E7fqXvF1wJdy8PMqmFR9SC1443QJw8UolFjiKejBb8qvrsV9DCwEynTUMH94UGFG5q6mKcXRdehyxlJx4O6G2DtJiH6l6NMY1fg9-3AL0U_8D4bNyiggG0GK184kiZBSx0/s1080/Flying%20Island%2010.27(3).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg49KQXo1L39mKXkntCt5EHNAwqseL01yc6JsQ6Cbvd5ykQtSuT0_KJq8U7E7fqXvF1wJdy8PMqmFR9SC1443QJw8UolFjiKejBb8qvrsV9DCwEynTUMH94UGFG5q6mKcXRdehyxlJx4O6G2DtJiH6l6NMY1fg9-3AL0U_8D4bNyiggG0GK184kiZBSx0/w406-h406/Flying%20Island%2010.27(3).png" width="406" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-95c39b78-7fff-819f-c27f-f05309f70317" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Drought</span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Not the melody we expected</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">at the creek’s edge, rather an ugly </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">silence clogged with sheets and tubes </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">of sycamore bark, the stopped drift </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">of sweet gum balls and cottonwood fluff,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">mud-dried globs of twigs and leaves,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">feathers, thin bones of whatever, and always</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">the human dross.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> Easy to cross this un-</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">wanted shortcut while preferring the long </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">way around to the singing duo of rock and water.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-de309518-7fff-41e4-0b79-a8b3ad0b26ad" style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A retired teacher of English and photography, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Roger Pfingston</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the recipient of a Poetry Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and two PEN Syndicated Fiction Awards. He is the author of </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Something Iridescent</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a collection of poetry and fiction, as well as five chapbooks</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the most recent being</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> What’s Given, </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">available from Kattywompus Press</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #333333; font-family: georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-1910875752370837292023-10-27T00:03:00.001-04:002023-10-27T00:03:00.124-04:00house, a poem by Chris Dean<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8a4Ykyx1uiZ974vaIDB_vG7l19ugpaER7m6RBHEnx9La494krLNoXJRHkblb7XS7jw42HLeHfE3mCwjR7MfHyitSt5BMWcMKT971teoub4WGxyDEqd5hMUUJucVCwaVqjbX8mMU7u67kCghtfna0oMmG__6s15u5EciM0VXwOmZBuILxXdkYkoYsU3e8/s1080/Flying%20Island%2010.27(4).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8a4Ykyx1uiZ974vaIDB_vG7l19ugpaER7m6RBHEnx9La494krLNoXJRHkblb7XS7jw42HLeHfE3mCwjR7MfHyitSt5BMWcMKT971teoub4WGxyDEqd5hMUUJucVCwaVqjbX8mMU7u67kCghtfna0oMmG__6s15u5EciM0VXwOmZBuILxXdkYkoYsU3e8/w408-h408/Flying%20Island%2010.27(4).png" width="408" /></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-c93faa83-7fff-0250-7bde-759aca8cfe0d" style="line-height: 2.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">house</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I want to go back</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">To days when</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">An empty box and pallet </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Made the perfect house</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">With grandma's old curtain</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">As a door.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">You would sit on your hat box chair</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">At our milk crate table </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">While I served you imaginary tea</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">From the pink plastic cups</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Mom found at the dollar store.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">We could talk about your day at work,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">You complaining about your boss</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">While I wiped my hands on</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">My pretend apron.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Then, when boredom set in,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">We'd leave our sleeping rubber baby</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">In its shoe box crib in the corner</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">And go catch lightning bugs</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Or play tag</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">And ours would be the happiest home</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">On the block until</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">The street light came on</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Or it rained.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-64edac88-7fff-7322-fd99-4a9dd18c12f1" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chris Dean</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a writer from Indiana, began writing poetry in 2018. They were the featured artist for May at the Columbus Area Arts Council Monthly Open Mic Night. Their work has been published in The Whiskey Mule Diner Anthology</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1036528228895932928.post-6248518811851778332023-10-27T00:02:00.001-04:002023-10-27T00:02:00.148-04:00American Haiku, poetry by Mary Wilder Daily<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv-sb6LRYFonRfMddp-jOYsZH45UqQRZPPy9r0uE5u49ZeUTOJFjRQzONFyUWnP88XPqRVLlcUyyH-3DgGjXrAjzsv6bOhXq9Scdq9JaW1gC5gw5yqPfJp_ppEBHt_bG2qxvlsKX2JK8B4SLSbVN3RPohGnrwmUcpULFzBfr0MdUznXFlhXa-GqiSwAGQ/s1080/Flying%20Island%2010.27(5).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv-sb6LRYFonRfMddp-jOYsZH45UqQRZPPy9r0uE5u49ZeUTOJFjRQzONFyUWnP88XPqRVLlcUyyH-3DgGjXrAjzsv6bOhXq9Scdq9JaW1gC5gw5yqPfJp_ppEBHt_bG2qxvlsKX2JK8B4SLSbVN3RPohGnrwmUcpULFzBfr0MdUznXFlhXa-GqiSwAGQ/w396-h396/Flying%20Island%2010.27(5).png" width="396" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-9de83b59-7fff-69a2-d19e-5d04ed210c9e" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">American Haiku</span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Silver rain outburst</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Bending winds renew beauty</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Passion not danger</span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Making love no words</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Only response breathe, muscle</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">No self. No other. One.</span></p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Giant fiberglass</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Crayon whale, chicken, Jesus</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Roadside attractions</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><div id="docs-internal-guid-d5c49b4c-7fff-a933-85b4-0b573430e5de" style="line-height: 1.28; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mary Wilder Daily</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> has returned to her hometown in Indiana and reconnected to her heritage as a Midwesterner. She joined the Indiana Playwright's Circle and has benefited from the interaction with and feedback from other writers in the weekly Scene Nights. Reading and creating poetry has been a passion of hers since she was in high school.</span></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p></p>Indiana Writers Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01688812018884799898noreply@blogger.com